The Personification of Faith, c. 1725-1730

Francesco Solimena

A leading Neapolitan painter of the early eighteenth century, Francesco Solimenaâ€™s bold decorative style owed much to his predecessor in Naples, Luca Giordano. He arrived in his adopted city as a young man and shortly thereafter clearly established his reputation with a series of frescoes in the Gesu Nuovo.

Faith is a sketch for one of these frescoes painted in a spandrel, the area between arches and the rim of a dome. The figure is dressed in white, the symbol of Faithâ€™s purity. With one hand she supports the Decalogue, the source of Old Testament learning. With her other she tenderly holds the chalice surmounted by the host. Beside her a putto carries a cross. These last two objects represent the main tenets of the Christian faith according to St. Paul: belief in Christ crucified and in the miracle of the Sacraments.